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Hill s / Thursday, September 1, 2011 / Categories: Korean Language, Language , Korean Basics
Learning Korean - Sentence Structure and Explaining Away the Difficult Particles My name is Minhee, a Korean teacher at Hills Learning, and I’ve found that some of my students when learning Korean have difculty with particles. I’d like today to talk about Korean sentence structure and some of the most confusing particles, hopefully after reading this you’ll have a better understanding! At rst,+let’s Korean sentence structure. Korean sentences consist of either a “subject + verb” or a “subject + object verb.discuss ” For example: -
럴
캐
에
릭
이
이
와
[Carol-i wha-yo], Subject + verb, Carol comes. comes.
요
과
사
를
먹
어
요
[Eric-i sa-gwa-leul muk-uh-yo], muk-uh-yo], Subject + object + verb, Eric eats eats an apple.
This is one of the big differences between Korean and English because a verb comes at the end of the sentence in Korean, and at the beginning of the sentence in English. There is a saying in Korean that says “you need to listen until the end of the sentence.” sentence.” In other words, you never know if the speaker is talking about the past , future, positive or negative expressions unless you listen to the whole sentence. Next, let’s discuss Korean grammar and particle usage. There are about twenty different particles in Korean. Particles are attached to words in Korean sentences and express the role of words in the sentence. sentence. Using the right particles is a key point of speaking Korean uently. uently. Let’s look Let’s look at the most confusing particles and the differences between them,
이
[e]/ [ga] and 가
은
[eun]/ [neun]. 는
/
This particle is added to the end of a subject to designate it as the subject of the sentence. For words that nish with a vowel, is added, and for words that end with a consonant, is added. For example: 이
가
-
민
희
씨
가
빵
을
먹
어
요
[Minhee-ssi-ga bbang-eul mu-kuh-yo]. (Minhee is eating bread.).
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민
희
ends with a vowel (
씨
), therefore ‘ ’ is added after the subject 가
ㅣ
민
희
(Minhee).
Another example of using the particle ‘ ’ is [Gwa-il-i bi-ssa-yo]. (The fruit is expensive.). The subject nishes with a consonant ( ), therefore ‘ ’ is added after the subject. 이
일
과
일
비
이
요
싸
과
가
ㄹ
Another usage for the particle / is when the subject functions to emphasize the preceding subject. For example: 이
-
내
가
어
했
가
! [nae-ga hat-uh-yo]. (I did it!).
요
The nal usage for particle / is to express new information or the topic of a sentence. For example, [Dong-saeng-I ji-gum ja-yo]. (My younger brother/sister is sleeping now.) 이
가
The next particle I want to talk about i s
은
동
이
생
지
금
자
요
[eun]/ [neun]: 는
/
/ comes after the subject like / , but it is used when the speaker wants to talk about or explain the main idea, topic, or issue of discussion. When words end with vowels, is added, and when words end in consonants, is added. Let’s look at some examples!
은
는
이
가
는
저
는
헨
리
국
한
29
는
람
사
이
에
이
살
업
직
은
호
변
. [Henry-neun seui-mool ah-hop-sal i-e-yo]. (Henry is 29 years old.).
요
Both subjects ( 제
. [Juh-neun han-kook-sa-ram i-e-yo]. (I am Korean.)
요
에
and
리
헨
이
사
은
에
) end in vowels (‘
저
ㅣ
’ and ‘ ’), therefore ‘ ’ is added. 는
ㅓ
. [je jik-up-eun byun-ho-sa i-e-yo]. (I am a lawyer.).
요
In this case, the subject (
제
업
직
) ends in a consonant (
ㅂ
), therefore the particle ‘ ’ is added. 은
/ is also used when mentioning something that has already b een established in an earlier conversation (old information), or when talking about something already known by both speakers.
은
는
The last case of using / is when comparing or contrasting two or more things. In these cases, not only to subjects, but also to ob jects. For example: 은
-
에
릭
은
그
렇
지
만
국
한
저
는
사
람
이
미
국
에
은
/ can be attached 는
[Eric-eun han-kook-sa-ram-i-ehan-kook-sa-ram-i-e-yo]. yo].
요
사
는
람
이
에
요
[geui-ruh-ji-man juh-neun mi-kook-sa-ram-i-e-yo]. (Eric is Korean, but I am American).
Most of Korean learners have the hardest time choosing which are the right particles, especially between / and / . The best way to learn it is practice! One day, you will realize that you are using the right particles without thinking 이
가
은
는
about it.
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48 comments on article "Learning Korean - Sentence Structure and Explaining Away the Difficult Particles"
J hanks so much. I've been learning Korean and this article answered one the questions I' ve had for a long time. I've wondered if I was u sing particles correctly and how and when to use them. This helped a lot. 1/31/2012 10:50 PM
Hills Learning hank you JJ for reading our website, and I'm glad this article was useful for you. We're always working o develop our resources further for helping to learn these languages. Please stay tuned for further articles and resources. 2/1/2012 5:13 AM
mimi oh,thank u for this article, this article help me to understand the korean sentence structure.i've been studying korean...so uhmm thx alot 4/8/2012 2:24 AM
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ohn Minhee, hanks for the explaination on this confusing subject. I'm still learning how to correctly pronounce owel combinations. I have a question about your name. I thought sounded like "ooyee". Does the change this to just an "ee" "ee" sound? Or is it said so quickly that the "u" sound is lost? 의
감
사
합
니
ㅎ
,
다
ohn 6/2/2012 6:12 PM
Hills Learning Hi John, It sounds like 'ee' because we say it quickly. However, However, it is not always that way. When you pronounce of or example , then you do need to pronounce as 'eui', 'eui', but when two nouns come together such as , then ' ' pronounce as ' '. 나
구
친
의
의
의
집
의
집
에
Sincerely Minhee 6/5/2012 12:43 PM
Mimi 감
사
람
이
다
!!!
hank you so much Minhee, you really helped me! My father is Korean but he never bothered teaching me, so now I'm trying to learn on my own from a workbook. However, I was having trouble with the participles and this helped me so much! Also, I don't understand when to use
을
and
를
. Can you pleas help?? 6/15/2012 1:11 PM
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Mimi Oops, I spelled
감
사
합
니
다
wrong ^_^ 6/15/2012 1:12 PM
amers ! That was incredibly helpful. I am teaching myself Korean and have been suspecting some of the particle rules for / and / , but it would have taken forever to gure out the actual usages without this article. Thanks so much,
너
무
감
사
합
니
다
이
은
가
는
amers 6/17/2012 7:50 PM
Bec hank you! I already have exprience in Japanese, so I am very g lad to understand that / is the equivalent of in Japanese and that / is the same for !! (hope I spelled that right!) 이
은
が
り
が
と
う
！
는
は
감
사
합
니
다
가
あ
9/28/2012 11:30 PM
Lena I was so happy to nally nd an article that explains this so well!I am so disappointed that you are all he way in NYC. I am studying here in LA, CA. There aren't any classes around here that are actually orth going to. When I visit NYC, I'll be sure to stop by. 감
사
합 니
다
. 10/28/2012 5:38 PM
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Sandra Lim 민
희
씨
가
을
빵
먹
어
, as the , we have to use it for every person's name?
요
씨
4/3/2013 11:35 PM
Minhee Park Hi Sandra, means Mr. Miss or Mrs in English..
씨
ou can use
씨
1. when you think the other person seems like around your age, but not sure whether you can call her/him
언
/ 누
니
or
나
오
빠
/ . 형
2. when you meet someone for the rst time. (Obviously, you don't know her/his age yet.) 3. to someone who is same age with you or a l ittle younger at work place. In other words, you can use
씨
, when you call someone' someone'ss name in a polite way.
Hope this is enough explanation. hanks, Minhee 4/4/2013 5:00 AM
o Is
저
는
한
국
사
람
이
에
요
the same as
나
는
한
국
입 니
다
? If it is, what is the difference?
Anyway, awesome article written. It gave me an idea how to start writing sentences in Korean!
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5/26/2013 11:52 PM
dreanna hank you~^__^ this has helped me so much, it's hard practicing on my own aha, wish me luck :) 8/14/2013 3:59 PM
CiCi Hi, Thank you so much for this ar ticle :) But i was wondering why do koreans pronounce ' does it mean 'in possession of'?
' as ‘ ’ and
의
에
9/10/2013 9:08 PM
apanese Sentence Structure 1 | Hills Learning [ …] In Japanese, the sentences follow the subject-object-verb subject-object-verb structure, or SOV (same as in the Korean language): [ …] 11/25/2013 7:04 AM
Karol I think there is a mistake ............Another example of using the particle ‘ ’ is [Gwa-il-i bissa-yo]. (The fruit is expensive.). The subject nishes with a consonant ( ), therefore ................‘ ’.........shouldn't "g'a but "e"?.... is added after the subject. 이
과
일
과
일
이
비
싸
요
ㄹ
가
12/25/2013 5:36 PM
Romy Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API
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ou have a typo. .. 8 the fruit 8 expensive example. 8n the sentence you wrote after the consonant.
이
but you said to put
가
Still very helpful article! 3/27/2014 6:52 AM
Moon hello! thank you for great explaining, but I guess there is one mistake, it can make a people confuse))) I mean: Another example of using the particle ‘ ’ is [Gwa-il-i bi-ssa-yo]. (The fruit is expensive.). he subject nishes with a consonant ( ), therefore ‘ ’ is added after the subject." So, it sould be i" right? 이
과
비
일
과
일
싸
요
이
가
ㄹ
5/11/2014 8:45 PM
Christine his will help me and my sisters learn 감
사
함
니
다
학
글
well.
... I hope i splet that right.. 7/1/2014 1:24 AM
Korean classes in NYC and free resources r esources | Hanguk Babble [ …] Korean Sentence Structure – Difference between
이
/
가
and
은
/
는
[ …] 7/1/2014 4:33 PM
ohn Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API
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he subject
과
일
nishes with a consonant (
ㄹ
), therefore ‘ ’ is added after the subject. 가
I think you made a mistake in this sentence.. hanks for writing this article! :) 11/19/2014 8:19 PM
uri How to write these sentences in Korean? "You don't even know that I'm in the same world as you. But for me, you are my whole world" Thank you. 11/26/2014 7:10 AM
Gabby Maceda his helped me a lot!!!! i've been studying korean for almost 1 week (and im still not good in it) but this actually solved my problem !!!!! HANK YOU !! 12/30/2014 9:56 PM
Deepak Pulami Magar Every sentence must have attached ga/i or eun/neun after subject in Korean? 2/11/2015 3:11 PM
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hanks jj i realy needed dis for taking eps klt exam dis april 2015.wish u also have a pointers for the comin exam in the Philippine dis coming april. Its a big help for me. 3/5/2015 11:28 PM
Edna Castillano Ooh my goodness its to hard,to make self study the korean language!but i'll try my best. . good luck gor me hank you for the article 3/19/2015 12:06 AM
abriel 감
this realiy help me in my korean lesson 사
함
니
다
노
무
감
사
함
다
5/1/2015 11:14 AM
Maxii Tismo I really understand now on how to use those par ticles and I hope that I could learn it as soon as posible. 2/13/2016 3:05 AM
Kate hank you so much minhee for giving this information it helps me a LO LOT! T! can you teach me some that i don't know about korean language? 5/1/2016 2:35 AM
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moon mae ara i love this article!! numo kamsahamnida minhee ssi. \^___^/ this will be a great help. 9/24/2016 11:39 PM
Kelsie his helped me so much! I´ve been studying Korean for about a year and a half now, and this is just hat I needed to clarify a lot of the issues I´ve had along the way. Thank you so much! 9/28/2016 7:21 AM
Felix Hi I'm studying korean because of the fact that I don't want to rely on sub titles too much XD, and I was hinking why is pronounced as "u" instead of "o" o",, and how would you construct long sentences, like, having a conversation with someone. And how would you know if the verb is past, present or future? 어
1/27/2017 3:12 AM
Rich ok, that is great information.. . how does one build conditional sentences: if i had a tool then I could x it. an example from another book so its a contrived example: having loved her, It was difcult to continue" (or something like that.. .) hanks! 3/27/2017 10:32 AM
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아
고
라
갈
마
워
요
!!
hank you! :) This helped me big time. I just need to learn the words :( so im still climbing up the mountain. 5/10/2017 6:10 PM
Let’s Talk Talk About: Adjective Placement and More Sentence Sent ence Structure! – Trying to Learn Korean [ …] Now, let’s get into the whole subject. I will not g o into detail nor will I explain in an easier way or now. What I will do is show the explanation that Hi llsLearning.com provided. […] 는
6/15/2017 11:15 AM
Neibell I am now learning Korean with my own. My mom bought me a Korean Dictionary but I don't really understand it. Some words are spelled in hangeul wrongly. I already know how to read and write hangeul bit fails when it comes to understanding and composting my own sentence. It really help me.
감
사
합 니
다
~ 7/4/2017 4:11 AM
あ
ゆ
み
his is how I understood but not sure: another usage for / is for the subject to emphasize the previous subject? If that is right, how can a subject emphasize a previous sub ject? Please help me, 이
가
miss/sir Minhee because I don't think I completly understand them.
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8/28/2017 3:29 AM
あ
ゆ
み
I don't know but I'm Japanese myself and I don't see any similarities between the two of these Korean and Japanese particles. They're way too different.. . Can u tell me in what way they're similar? 8/28/2017 3:36 AM
pril ronario It's very helpful..however,the explanation about the particles ( / ) is somewhat confusing. 이
가
Another example of using the particle ‘ ’ is [Gwa-il-i bi-ssa-yo]. (The fruit is expensive.). he subject nishes with a consonant ( ), therefore ‘ ’ is added after the subject." 이
과
일
과
ㄹ
일
이
비
싸
요
가
Please clarify..thank you. 9/22/2017 12:06 AM
Summer hank you so much for this article, . I'm teaching myself Korean through Memrise, so there isn't much of an explanation for these types of things. This is the only thing I 've read that makes sense. You 민
희
really explained this perfectly, thank you! -Summer 9/26/2017 3:16 PM
abhie hanks for this articles . ..now I understand how to use 'eun' and 'neun' 'neun'
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10/11/2017 2:52 PM
Dauzee Another example of using the particle ‘ ’ is [Gwa-il-i bi-ssa-yo]. (The fruit is expensive.). he subject nishes with a consonant ( ), therefore ‘ ’ is added after the subject. 이
과
you mean
이
일
과
ㄹ
일
이
비
싸
요
가
should be added? 10/15/2017 12:08 PM
sabrina It's really helped me. These things always made me confuse and you wrapped them in one ar ticle. Short and clear. Thank you 10/17/2017 11:25 PM
Holly In english a verb comes in the middle of a sentence not the beginning. It goes subject + verb + object I (subject) + eat (verb) + hamburgers (object) 10/29/2017 9:06 AM
BTS.A.R.M.Y hx 11/16/2017 8:11 AM
딘
린
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인
thanks a lot
녕
1/13/2018 5:48 PM
딘
린
im sorry its
안
녕
1/13/2018 5:50 PM
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